Finding Rebecca: A Novel of Love and the Holocaust by Eoin Dempsey Page A

wonderful here,”
Alexandra answered. “I never thought there would be anywhere like London, but
this is even more fabulous.”

    Christopher knew that the others were
talking as the car moved but none of their words registered with him. He could
only stare out the window at the marvelous city where he might have grown up,
the enormous avenues buzzing with cars and ladies in hats and trams and trains
that he might have known so well, instead of pondering them in amazement as a
tourist. They parked the car and walked to the Stadtschloss, the royal palace.

    ‚ÄúI‚Äôd say
this compares pretty well with your Buckingham Palace.” Uli joked as they
beheld it. Christopher looked back at Alexandra who was standing, arms linked
with Karolina. He smiled at them again and then at his father.

    They made
their way to Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate, where Uli took his turn
as tour guide. They looked up at the huge structure and the chariot led by four
horses atop of it.

    ‚ÄúThis is
it, look up at the column of victory. This is the center of the Reich, the
center of the new Germany.” He took Karolina close to him. “This is the symbol
of the new start for all of us,” he looked down at Karolina, who smiled back at
him. “Look back down Unter den Linden, it stretches for as far as the eye can
see.”

    Christopher
looked down the wide avenue, the green trees interspersed by the flags of the
party, stretching for miles.

    ‚ÄúAnd look,‚Äù
Karolina said. “The changing of the guards, we’re in luck.” Christopher looked
over at the grey uniformed soldiers, stepping in perfect time, their long
rifles on their shoulders.

    ‚ÄúI don‚Äôt think
I really want to see this,” Stefan said.

    Uli looked
back at him. “Okay, Brother, it’s getting towards dinner time anyway. We have
somewhere special to take you.”

    It was a
fine evening, warm and clear, and they went to dinner in a café outdoors. There
was dancing on the patio and the music from the live band floated around them
as they ate. Christopher was thinking about Rebecca, and how they could never
be together in this strange and wonderful place, warm and friendly yet
intensely hostile all at the same time. He didn’t know how to feel.

    After
dinner, Uli asked Alexandra to dance with him and although she refused he,
dragged her up with him. Karolina turned to Christopher and asked if he
wouldn’t mind if she danced with his father. Christopher shook his head and
smiled as Stefan took her hand and led her out onto the patio. Christopher
watched them dancing as the evening faded into night.

    Uli‚Äôs wedding was on a beautiful
Saturday but of course, he had insisted on having his bachelor party the night
before. Alexandra stayed with Karolina’s family as Stefan and Christopher
accompanied Uli and a horde of his friends out into the Berlin night, for “one
last night of debauchery”, as Uli himself put it. As 37 year old men, Uli’s
friends seemed to have more interest in talking about their children, or the
wedding the next day, than the debauchery that he had in mind, at least at
first. Christopher found himself sitting at dinner between his father, who
seemed genuinely determined to have a good time, and Uli’s friend Werner,
proudly displaying his swastika badge to signify his membership of the Party.
He was a lawyer, originally from Dresden, and Christopher found himself
speaking to him for the entire dinner.

    ‚ÄúSo what do you think of Berlin? It‚Äôs
quite a city isn’t it?”

    ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs incredible,‚Äù Christopher said,
looking first at the Nazi insignia and then into Werner’s brown eyes. “I never
seen anywhere quite like it.”

    ‚ÄúIt was so different, just a few
short years ago. Before the National Socialists came to power, and while the
Bolshevik threat was still lurking, that